Migration has been an important influence on Australian society and the economy. Between 1947 and 1982, over a million Britons immigrated to Australia, the majority of whom travelled under the ten pound assisted passage scheme funded by the British and Australian governments. This large intake of British migrants was encouraged as part of Australia's 'populate or perish' nation-building initiative, which emerged in the aftermath of World War II. The Ten Pound Poms, as they became known 82% were English were mostly from an urban background.
The failure to meet migration targets around the 1950s sparked the creation of additional schemes. In 1957, this concern over dwindling British migrant numbers provoked the 'Bring out a Briton Campaign',